1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to patient securing devices and more particularly to tensionable belt patient securing devices.
2. Prior Art
Hold-down devices for securing and restricting movement of patients on X-ray tables and other examination tables are known to the art. Such devices include hold-downs utilizing belts or straps which pass from a tension device across the patient to a belt attachment means are also known. One such device utilizes a belt which has one end secured to a holder which can be attached to a profiled side rail of the examination table. The other end of the belt is wound on a take-up drum supported in a holder which can be attached to the opposite profiled side of the support table. The take-up drum is provided with a rachet by which the belt can be tautly stretched across a patient positioned between the two holders.
However, in devices such as that above described, the tensioning device has a noticeable disadvantage in that as the belt is drawn in the direction in the take-up drum at the time of securing the patient, movement of the belt across the patient will cause lateral shift of the patient in the direction of the take-up drum. This not only leads to an unpleasant friction or rubbing of the belt against the patient, who may be unclothed, but also creates a lateral shift of surface adjacent internal body parts. As a result organ displacement can occur and this displacement will therefore result in a distorted picture on a florescent screen or X-ray photograph.
Another form of known patient securing device utilizes take-up holders wherein both ends of the belt are secured to separate take-up drums, each of which can be rachet actuated. With this type of a hold-down, lateral shifting of the patient can be avoided if the rachets are evenly tightened on both sides of the patient, since one take-up drum must be located on each side of the patient. In order for this to occur either two persons are necessary, acting in sequence, one on each take-up device, or the physician or other personnel must repeatedly go from one side of the examination table to the other in order to alternately operate first one and then the other take-up.
It would therefore be an advance in the art to provide a strap hold-down device for patient examination tables and the like where the hold-down could be tensioned from one side of the table without imposing a lateral shift on the patient.